CMG Home Loans, the retail lending division of CMG Financial, announced on Tuesday the appointment of Kari Van Kleef to the position of reverse mortgage operations manager. She is one of “several industry veterans who will be directing the dedicated reverse mortgage department at CMG,” the company said.
Van Kleef, who previously worked for the reverse mortgage divisions at Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. and Movement Mortgage, has been in the broader mortgage business for about 26 years and began focusing specifically on reverse in 2015. During her time at Fairway, she established a new reverse mortgage processing center and was involved in the expansion of that company’s division from six employees to 55.
Van Kleef also helped to expand the reverse mortgage division at Movement prior to joining CMG. She will be working alongside Gina Larson, the company’s reverse mortgage regional manager for the West; Peter Klamkin, its regional manager for Texas and the East; and Sean Kirksey, its vice president of reverse mortgage.
Van Kleef expressed excitement about joining the company.
“My passion for the reverse industry is extremely strong, and I was happy to find a place that offers the perfect platform for me to apply and enhance my skills,” she said. “Their commitment to innovation and growth paired with their passionate leadership team made my decision to come to CMG easy.”
Regarding the division’s growth, Kirksey added that the addition of Van Kleef is evidence of the larger company’s commitment to the reverse space.
“We’re in a unique position in the market with 1,400 traditional loan officers in the company who have pre-established relationships with clients that we can help wherever they are in life,” Kirksey said in a statement. “CMG has already proven that we’re committed to developing the Reverse space, as proven by our growth and addition of industry veterans like Kari.”
The company also described expanded demand for its reverse lending products. Over the first seven months of this year, CMG has seen a 500% increase in its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) volume. According to data from Reverse Market Insight (RMI), CMG originated 72 HECM loans during the first seven months of 2024 compared to 12 during the same period last year.
(Written with some editorial help from askaichat.app)
The optimism in the industry since October 2, 2017, has been remarkable yet misguided. While two of the fiscal years following the Trump administration’s changes—reducing both HECM PLFs and the HECM expected rate floor, along with restructuring HECM MIP—witnessed the highest volumes of HECM Refis ever, two other fiscal years recorded the worst total endorsements since 2003: first in 2019 and second in 2023. Now, there is little doubt that fiscal year 2024 may be on track to become the worst fiscal year for total HECM endorsements since 2003, relegating fiscal year 2019 to second worst and fiscal year 2023 to third.
Moreover, fiscal year 2025, which begins on October 1, 2024, is poised to have the worst first fiscal quarter for total endorsements since 2002 (which was worse than even those same numbers for fiscal 2003). Yet, none of those interviewed on the two media outlets covering this industry seem willing to confront the reality of our two most significant downturns over the past 83 months. Even the best fiscal year for total HECM endorsements since fiscal 2011—fiscal year 2022—had a projected net present value of future cash flows that was over $800 million negative as of September 30, 2023, according to HUD.
While there is hope that fiscal year 2025 will yield more positive results than even fiscal year 2023, the data from June and July 2024 case number assignments—used to estimate total HECM endorsements for the first two months of fiscal 2025—tell a different story. Many have touted increased RM activity this summer, but the only validation for these claims will come from the August 2024 case number assignments, not from June or July 2024 HECM case number assignments. Recent history suggests that such optimistic statements may be based more on wishful thinking than on facts, making it difficult to trust industry claims regarding HECM case number assignment production.
We can only hope that the recent summer declarations are more realistic than optimistic and that total endorsements for the first quarter of fiscal 2025 will exceed current projections.